i-5 3 
.11)76 



EMANCIPATION. 



TS COURSE AND PROGRESS 



FBOM 1102 TO 1875, 



WITH A CURSORY REVIEW OF 



President Lincoln's Proclamation, 



XIII AMENDMENT, 



JOSEPH T. WILSON, 



NORFOLK, Va. 



HAMPTON, VA. ! 

Normal School Steam Press Print. 

1881. 







Gass_JLAJL3_ 



EMANCIPATION. 

ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS 
IFIE^OXvl 1102 TO 1875, 

AH 

WITH A CURSORY REVIEW OF 

President Lincoln's Proclamation, 



XIII AMENDMENT, 



/ 
JOSEPH T. WILSON, 



NORFOLK, Va. 



FV 



HAMPTON, VA.: 

Normal School Steam Press Print. 
1881. 









Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1881 

by JOSEPH T. WILSON, 

in the office of the Librarian of Congress 

at Washington. 



^ 



EMANCIPATION 



Of the causes and revlut.ons wliich men, from the 
■earliest period of recorded lime engaged in, none setms 
so memoraole as the abolition of slavery, no event, save 
that of tne coming — the birth of the Savior — is so rejoic- 
ed in as that of the abolition of slavery, by the civilized 
nations, and rightly so; of the crimes mentioned in the 
decalogue, human slavery takes rank of them all. 

History fails to give the date or period of the be- 
ginning of slavery: the world consequently is ignorant 
of when it began; the sacred history records the sale of 
1728 Joseph. Some writers claim this to be the begining 
B. c. but whether it was or not it matters but little, since, 
now it seems confined to the dark continent of Africa. 
Civilization and freedom evidently marches side 
anc side, victory for one means victory for the other, 
and the nations barbaric, in turn, have had to deal 
with it, happily now the nations that have felt the op- 
pressors' power rejoice in freedom — though perhaps it 
cost more of blood and treasure than any other cause? 
man ever engaged in. The price of freedom in our own 
country expensive as it was in lives and money, is not 
to be compared, does not approximate, will not add a 
cipher to its cost to the Eastern nations. 

Though no knowledge of its beginning, the chroni- 
clers have kept record of its abolition, and thus runs 
the record of the more important epochs. 



4 EMANCIPATION ! 

1491 B. C. God appeared to Moses in a burning bush 
and commanded him to go to Egypt, and there he per- 
formed many miracles, and inflicted ten successive 
plagues on Pharaoh, consequently the iron-hearted mon- 
arch allowed the Israelites to depart for a land of tree- ( 
dom : they having completed their four hundred and 
thirtieth year of sojourning in Egypt. Moses their 
leader, led them to the shore of the Red Sea, and God 
opened a passage through the Sea, and the Israelites 
passed through and into the desert Etham, by which 
means they became free. 
1500 Isabella, Queen of Spain, decreed all the North 
American Indians in her European possessions free. 
Hundreds of Indians had been transported thither by 
the reputed discoverers of the Western Continent — Col- 
umbus, and other voyagers immediately following him, 
and sold into slavery. 
1102 Abolition decree of the great council of England. 
1171 Memorable Irish decree, giving freedom to all English 

slaves in Ireland. 
1776 The Prussian edict. 

1792 Denmark. 

1793 Hayti. 

The liberation of slaves in this state was by commis- 
sioners appointed by the French government at Paris as 
Charge de affairs of the Island of St. Domingo. Their 
proclamation was ratified by the assembly and made 
valid in 1794, though the English were then in possession 
of the coast. 

In 1802 JSTapolean Bonaparte, as first Consul of 
France and sanctioned by the legislature thereof, land- 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. *> 

ed an army at Samaria for the purpose of re-enslaving 
the Negro inhabitants of this state, but the heroism of 
the Freedmen defeated the army, and to this day they 
remain free. 

1794 The French manumission decree abolishing Negro 
slavery in St Domingo, Hayti, Cayenne, Gaudaloupe, 
Martinique. 

1811 Java. 

1815 Ceylon. 

1816 Buenos Ayres, St Helena. 
1820 Chili, Columbia. 

1823 Cape Colony. 

1825 Malacca. 

1826 Burmah, Bolivia- 

1828 Peru, Guatemala, Montivideo. 

1829 Mexico. 

1834 Jamaica, Barbadoes, the Burmudas, Bahama, An- 
quilla, Mauritious, St Christopher,Nevis,Virgin Island, 
Antigua, Montserret, Dominica, St. Vincent, Grenado, 
Berb'ce, Tobago, St. Lucia, Trinidad, Honduras, Deme- 
rara, Essequibo and the Cape of Good Hope, and three 
Colonies in the East Indies. 

1842 Uruguay. 

1863 Emancipation of the serfs in all the Russias. 

"I have had occasion, formally, to remind the Sen- 
ate how completely the Emperor has done his work. 
Not content with issuing the decree of Emancipation, 
he has proceeded, by an elaborate system of regulations, 
to provide in. the first place, for what have been called 
the Civil Rights of all the recent serfs; then, again, to 
provide for their rights in property, securing to every 



C EMANCIPATION. 

one of them a homestead; aud then, again, by provid- 
ing for them rights of public education. Added to all 
these he has secured to them also political rights, giv- 
ing to every one the right to vote for all local officers; 
corresponding to our officers of the town and of the 
county. It is this very thoroughness with which he 
has carried out his decree of Emancipation." 

Sumner, U. S. Senate. 
This speech fully explains the decree, in its mu- 
nificence. 
1869 Cuba — Insurrectionists proclaim freedom to the 

slaves. 
1871 Brazil — Emancipation took somewhat the form and 
procedure of that in our own country, beginning with 
the abolition of the African Slave trade in 1831, by 
defect in the law; the final abolition of the traffic how- 
ever, did not take place until 1850; this was followed 
by a gradual emancipation act in 1871, which manu- 
mitted all the Government slaves and 30,000 others. 
1873 The Cortes of the young Republic of Spain passed 
a bill setting free from that day (March 24th) all slaves in, 
Porto Rico; the bill provided that each owner should re- 
ceive per head for his slaves the sum of$z00 in Amer- 
ican money. To pay this indemnity, seven millions of" 
dollars was raised upon the resources of Porto Rico. 
The Freedmen were compelled by the act to make con- 
tract either with the planters or the Government to work 
for wages for three years; it also provided in the mean- 
time that exact and wise laws for education should be 
put into operation. 
1875 Portugal. The Cortes granted unconditional free- 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 7 

dom to all her slaves; the act provides that one year af- 
ter its promulgation, the system of apprenticeship un- 
der the decree of the 28th of February ,1869, shall cease, 
and all persons apprenticed by its provisions are de- 
clared free. The act also provides for the manner in 
which freedmen who have no trade or business, or who 
cannot read or write, may be subjected to tutelage by 
the civil authorities, but that this right — right of tu- 
telage — shall cease on the 28th of April, 1878. The la- 
bor of those under tutelage is declared free, and they 
are to be at liberty to make their own contracts, subject 
to the revision of the proper authority, such contracts 
to be in no case binding for more than two years. The 
law also makes provision for rendering effective the 
liberty it concedes. Thus it will be seen that the act 
in question puts an end to slavery forever in Portugal 
and her dependencies, and not only proclaims the free- 
dom of apprentices and the abolition in the Portuguese 
dominions of man's apprenticeship to man, but declares 
that the labor of the apprentices now under tutelage is 
free, and that they are at liberty to make their own 
contracts, subject only to the revision of the proper au- 
thority. These munificent provisions are exceeded by 
no nation, save, perhaps, Russia, where humanity dic- 
tated the terms, and made ample provisions for the 
emancipated serfs. 

EMANCIPATION. 

This poem was published in the True Communicator in 1866, over the Sobri- 
quet '■'■Annie." 

Whence comes tliis glory that our land has brightened 

Whence comes this flood of radiance so bright? 
The golden cords of sisterhood are tightened, 

While heart and voice in praises deep unite. 



8 



EMANCIPATION : 



'Tis heaven's benediction gently falling, 
While Justice's voice her erring sons is calling. 

They hear, and quickly to the call responding, 
Loosen at once each worn and galling chain, 

And, kneeling where the boon to him was given, 
The freeman feels no suffering was in vain, 

For God, the sovereign Lord of earth and heaven, 

Has bared his arm and every bond is riven, 

From our dear land a cloud of sin is lifted, 
O'er her is arched a clearer, brighter sky, 

Her rills and founts and brooks with joy are gushing, 
Wbile tree tops whisper back a soft reply. 

Her people now the ban;! of God discerning, 

From darkness into ligbt their steps are turning. 

No more shall mother's hearts be torn with anguish, 
No more shall father's souls for vengeance burn, 

Sisters no more for brother's care shall languish, 
Nor brothers for a sister's love shall yearn. 

Their night is past, the morn to-day is breaking, 

Each joyful heart to praises sweet is waking. 

The star of hope in every bosom shining, 

Dispels the gloom that long has darkened there. 

They wake, and in the might of freedom rising, 
Pour forth the incense of a grateful prayer. 

"Within them now a spirit breathes immortal, 

They soar on wings of faith to heaven's high portal. 

The freeman to his lowly cabin turning, 
When with the sun his daily labors o'er, 

Wipes from his beaming eye the moisture gathering, 
To see the group complete about his door. 

Love, truth and mercy seem in triumph bending, 

While nature's voice, with his mute praise is blending. 

Our glorious banner with its hues of heaven, 
Far, far and wide all lingering doubt dispels. 

No slave beneath its folds now lowly couches, 
But safe beneath its stars securely dwells. 

O, God, whose hand our fragile bark did'st save, 

Leave us not now, we've dangers yet to brave. 

Still by thy wisdom let our hearts be moulded, 

Still for direction let us look to thee, 
In mercy, justice, faith at last perfect us, 

That we, thy will concerning us may see. 
O, let thy love on all this land descending, 
Preserve the Union safe from strife defending . 



t 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 9 

UNITED STATES. 

The history of Emancipation in our own country 
is entitled to far greater consideration than the oppor- 
tunity will permit me to give it here, even were I dis- 
posed to treat the subject at length. The result of the 
war of the Revolution of 1776, gave freedom only to 
the whites, though a great many slaves succeeded in 
obtaining their freedom by following the English flag, 
and a few for very distinguished service in the Colonial 
army were manumitted, some by the States, some by 
their masters. Though Negro slavery at the close of 
the war began to relax its hold upon the people in one 
section of the country, it revived in the other section; 
yet there was no considerable manumission of slaves 
for some years after the ending of the struggle. 

1777. Vermont, upon whose soil a slave never trod, de- 
clared against slavery in her declaration against 
Briton's rule, and prohibited it in her Constitution; her 
action was followed by the legislatures of the other 
Northern States where large numbers of slaves were 
held. 

1780. Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, 

1784. Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire. 

1799. New York. 

1804. New Jersey. 

It is in justice to the effort made in Virginia in 
1830 — 31, to abolish slavery by her legislature, that I 
make mention of it here. Following the Nat Turner 
insurrection in one of her counties, — Southampton, 
and in answer to a petitiou signed by several hundre 



10 



EMANCIPATION 



females, the question was taken up by the legislature;: 
a bill for gradual emancipation was discussed at great 
length and failed to pass by only two votes; this was 
superinduced by the insurrection, and with its subsi- 
dence went the emancipation question. It was not the 
first attempt to get rid of slavery by Virginia; her 
Colonial Assembly in 1772, presented a petition to the 
Crown, stating, says Judge Tucker, in his "N~ot.es to 
the American edition of Blackstone's Commentaries," 
"that the importation of slaves into the Colony from 
the Coast of Africa, has long been considered as a trade 
of great inhumanity, and under its present encourage- 
ment they have too much reason to fear would endanger 
the very existence of his Majesty's American dominion," 
and beseeching the Crown to remove all those restraints 
on the Governors of that Colony, which inhibited their 
assenting to such laws as might check so very pernici- 
ous a commerce as the African slave trade. But in 
this she followed the example set by the Northern Colo- 
nies. Massachusetts, as early as 1703, and again in 
1767, sought to interdict slavery; so did New Jersey, 
and Pennsylvania; but the English Government lent a 
deaf ear to their entreaties, but no sooner was the inde^ 
pendence of the Colonies declared in 1776, than the- 
American Congress resolved against the importation of 
slaves from Africa. 

1808 By Act of Congress the slave trade was abolished, 

and shortly thereafter declared to be piracy, and punish- 

1820 able with death. 

1862. By Act of Congress, slavery abolished in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia. 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRES?. 11 

1862 President Lincoln, as Commander in Chief of 
the United States forces, engaged in suppresing rebel- 
lion, issued a preliminary proclamation, warning the 
rebels that unless they laid down their arms and re- 
turned to their allegience due the Government of the 
United States before the 1st day of January, 1863, he 
would on that day declare all their slaves free, which 

1863 he accordingly did, excepting, however, the slaves 
in those portions of States then occupied by the Union 
forces, and also those sections where the people were 
loyal to the union of the states the slaves remained as 
though the proclamation had not been issued. Truly 
this proclamation did not, like the surrender of York- 
town, free a single slave, nor would it have had even 
the moral force, given it, it received, but, for the fact,- 
that the Southern States declared themselves indepen- 
dent, and engaged in open war against the Federal 
Government for the maintenance of their declared in- 
dependence, only for this assumption, neither the Presi- 
dent nor Cong:ess, nor the loyal people, could have by 
proclamation, amendment to the Constitution, or by 
any other means, emancipated the slaves, yet how sur- 
prising it is that the emancipation of the American 
Negro,when referred to to its source, its credit is given to 
the lamented L ; ncoln — it was just as easy for the 
President to declare a victory for the Union army as 
to declare the slaves in the enemies country free. But 
it is not my purpose to discuss this proclamation, which 
admits of more than ordinary argument; nor would I 
for a moment either directly or indirectly, neither by 
^ord or insinuation attempt to detract from the fame- 



12 emancipation: 

of the humane and illustrious statesman, the benefact- 
or of my race, Abraham Lincoln; — nevertheless, we 
should know the truth concerning so important an 
event as the emancipation of four million slaves, and 
know, too, that the proclamation in question did not 
emancipate them. Had the South maintained her as- 
sumed independence in defiance of the Federal Govern- 
ment, what would the edict have amounted to? Again, 
had the enemy laid down their arms six months after 
the edict was issued, would they have lost their slaves? 
It must be remembered that Congress recognized slavery 
a year after the proclamation was issued, and treated 
with the owners as late as 1864, by paying one hund- 
red dollars to the loyal owner for every slave who en- 
listed in the anion army. When then, and how came 
the slaves free? Before answering these questions, let 
us read what Professor Hay good in his excellent work, 
"Our Brother in Black" says, under the caption of 
"Providence in Emancipation," "There can be," he 
says, "no question, I think, but that emancipation was 
set down in the order of Divine Providence. Had the 
white people realized both in thought and act, their re- 
lation to the slaves, emancipation might have come 
sooner, it might have come later, but it would have 
-come peaceably, and when both masters and slaves were 
better prepared for the change. It is to me a very 
painful thought that, while there were very many 
noble exceptions, the majority of masters never under- 
stood the solemnity of their trust in the temporary 
guardianship of these Negroes in course of training. 
Many of them, I fear the largest number, recognized 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 1£ 

chiefly a property interest in the Negroes. Men with 
this feeliug uppermost, could not do their duty to the 
slaves. But God's plans must not be marred by human 
ignorance or cupidity; so that it came to pass that God 
used a great war to set free the Negroes." 

How the Negro regarded the proclamation is not 
difficult to tell, and perhaps the observation of one of 
Mr. Lincoln's staunchest supporters and advisers, may 
serve to illustrate more clearly than I can, how the Ne- 
gro and his abolition friends were affected by it. "The 
slaves," he says " of the South seem to have made no 
mistake as to their status. They knew they were not 
free while their masters held them and the territory. 
They looked to the gun boats and the stars and stripes, 
and regarded the proclamation only as it promise which 
would fail or be made good according to the issue 
of the war. As to the people of the North, they were 
in no humor to "reason too precisely upon the event." 
They were impatient under the existing policy and 
looked for a change; they saw that change in the 
proclamation, and cared little in what form it came, or 
what else it undertook to do. They had been dis- 
gusted by the advice that had been offered them on con- 
stitutional questions by over-technical or semi-loyal men 
Jurists had advised that the Prize Courts were uncon- 
stitutional, that no property could be taken, at sea or on 
land, except in the way of penalty for treason, after a 
jury trial. We could not blockade our own ports; that 
though an army and militia were constitutional, volun- 
teers and conscriptions were not; and at the bottom 
of all, that the Republic could not coerce a State. It is 



14 EMANCIPATION : 

little wonder, therefore, that they were impatient of 
any criticism upon the proclamation. On the other 
hand unquestionable patriots, educated in a narrow 
school of strict construction - - - were telling the 
people that the only way to save the Union was to run 
the constitution ashore. 

Fortunately, the proclamation was never brought 
to a test. There can be little doubt that Foreign States 
and our own Judiciary would have treated it as ineffect- 
ual." 

Edward Everett, at the great Emancipation meet- 
ing in Fanueil Hall, Boston, in a lengthy and forcible 
speech said: "It is very doubtful whether any act of 
the government of the United States was necessary to 
liberate the slaves in a State which is in Rebellion. 
There is much reason for the opinion that, by the simple 
-act of levying war against the United States, the rela- 
tion of slavery was terminated; certainly so far as con- 
cerns the duty of the United States to recognize it, or to 
refrain from interfering with it. Not being founded on 
the law of nature, and resting solely on positive local 
law, and that not of the United States — as soon as it 
becomes either the motive or pretext of an unjust war 
against the Union, — an efficient instrument in the 
hands of the rebels for carrying on the war, — a source of 
military strength to the Rebellion and of danger to the 
Government at home and abroad; with the additional 
certainty that in any]event but its abandonment, it will 
-continue in all future times to work these mischiefs. 
Who can suppose it is the duty of the United States to 
continue to recognize it? To maintain this would be a 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 15 

contradiction in terms. It would be to recognize a 
right in a rebel master to employ, his slaves in acts of 
rebellion and treason; and the duty of the slave to aid 
and abet his master in the commission of the greatest 
crime known to the law. No such absurdity can be 
admitted; and any citizen of the United States, from 
the President down, who should by any overt act, rec- 
ognize the duty of a slave to obey a rebel master, in a 
hostile operation; would himself be giving aid and 
comfort to the enemy." 

Now the answer to the questions. They can best 

.be answered by one who took a very conspicuous part 

in bringing about the sequel, in fact, was a pioneer in 

the cause of human rights and emancipation. Henry 

Wilson,in his Anti-Slavery measures in Congress says: 

"The speaker of the House of Representatives on 
the 14th of December,18tj3, after announcing the stand- 
ing committees, stated that the first business in order 
was the call of the States for bills and joint resolutions. 
Mr. Ashley, chairman of the committee on Territories, 
introduced a bill to provide for submitting to the States 
a proposition to amend the Constitution, prohibiting 
slavery." Mr. Wilson of Iowa, submitted a similar 
proposition. These were referred to the Judiciary com- 
mittee. 

In the senate on the 11th of January, 1864, Mr. 
Henderson of Missouri, introduced a joint resolution, 
proposing an amendment to the constitution, abolish- 
ing slavery. Mr. Sumner, on the 8 th of February, in- 
troduced a joint resolution in the same body, having 
for its object the abolition of slavery also; these were 



16 emancipation: 

referred to the Judiciary committee of the Senate, on' 
the 10th, two days after. 

Mr. Turnbull, of 111., Chairman of the Judiciary 
committee, reported adversely on Mr. Sumner's resolu- 
tion. He reported Mr. Henderson's resolution with 
an amendment,which read: 

"That the following article be proposed to the leg- 
islatures of the several States, as an amendment to the 
Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified 
by three fourths of said legislatures, shall be valid, to 
all intents and purposes as a part of the said Constitu- 
tion; — namely: 

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a 
punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly 
convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place sub- 
ject to i heir jurisdiction. 

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by ap- 
propriate legislation. 

On the 8th of April the proposition was adopted 
by the senate by 08 yeas to 6 nays. 

On the 31st of May the proposition was taken up 
by the House of Representatives and debated until the 
15th of June, when, by a vote of 93 yeas to 65 nays, 23 
not voting, the measure was lost. 

President Lincoln in his message to Congress, De- 
cember, 1804, urges the adoption of the amendment, re- 
jected at the previous session; on motion of Mr. Ashley 
of Ohio, the House on the 6th of January, 1865 took up 
the amendment and after a stubborn opposition the meas- 
ure was passed on Tuesday, the 31st of January 1865.* 

* The Secretary; of State dates the passage of the amendment, February 
1st; this date is evidently incorrect. 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 17 

Notwithstanding slavery had been abolished in the 
territories, and in the District of Columbia, Congress 
had by act given freedom to the Negro soldiers, their 
wives and children; the states of Maryland, West Vir- 
ginia and Missouri, had emancipated their slaves, al- 
though the President's Emancipation Proclamation; 
the reorganized state governments of Tennessee, Vir- 
ginia and Louisiana had all aimed a blow at slavery, 
yet it existed, hence the thirty eighth Congress, acting 
upon the advice of President Lincoln, passed, and the 
legislature of the states ratified the thirteenth amend- 
ment, thereby making it a part of the organic law of 
our country. 

Gradually human slavery, as an institution, disap- 
pears from all governments called civilized. 



THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION 

OF SEPT. 1862, AND JANUARY FIRST, 1863. 

"I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of 
America, and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy there- 
of, do hereby proclaim and declare that hereafter as heretofore 
the war will be prosecuted for the object of practically restoring 
the constitutional relation between the United States and the 
people thereof in those States in which that relation is, or may 
be, suspended or disturbed ; that it is my purpose upon the next 
meeting of Congress to again recommend the adoption of a prac- 
tical measure tendering pecuniary aid to the free acceptance or 
rejection of all the slave States, so called, the people whereof 
may not then be in rebellion against the United States, and which 
States may then have voluntarily adopted, or thereafter may vol- 
untarily adopt, the immediate or gradual abolishment of slavery 
within their respective limits, and that the effort to colonize per- 
sons of African descent, with their consent, upon the continent 
or elsewhere, with the previously obtained consent of the Govern- 



18 EMANCIPATION : * 

ment existing there, will be continued ; that on the first day of 
January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State, or 
any designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be 
in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thencefor- 
ward and forever, free, and the executive Government of the 
United States, including the military and naval author- 
ity thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom 
of such persons, or any of them^ in any efforts they 
may make for their actual freedom: that the Executive will, on 
the first day of Januaryaforesaid, by proclamation, designate 
the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people there- 
of respectively shall then be in rebellion against the United 
States ; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall 
on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the 
United States by members chosen thereto, at elections wherein 
a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have partici- 
pated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, 
be deemed conclusive evidence that such State and the people 
thereof have not been in rebellion agaiust the United States. 
"That attention is hereby called to an act of Congress entitled 
"An act to make an additional article of war," approved March 
13, 1862, and which act is in the words and figures following: 

u Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America, in Congress assembled, That hereafter 
the following shall be promulgated as an additional article of war 
for the government of the army of the United States, and shall 
be observed and obeyed as such. 

" ' Article — , All officers or persons of the military or navi.l 
service of the United States are prohibited from employing any 
of the forces under their respective commands for the purpose 
of returning fugitives from service or labor, who may have es- 
cased from any persons to whom such service or labor is claimed 
to be due, and any officer who shall be found guilty by a court- 
martial of violating this article, shall be dismissed from the ser- 
vice. 

"•Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That this act shall 
take effect from and after its passage, " 

" Also to the ninth and tenth sections of an act entitled 
An act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, 
to seize and confiscate property of rebels, and for other purposes, ' 
approved July 17, 1862, and which sections are in the words and 
figures following: 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRES 19 

kii Sec. 9. And bu it further enacted, That all slaves of 
persons who shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the 
Government of the United States, or who shall in any way give 
aid or comfort thereto, escaping from such persons and taking 
refuge within the lines of the army ; and all slaves captured from 
such persons or deserted by them, and coming under the control 
of the Government of the United States, and all owners of such 
persons found on (or being within, any place occupied by 
rebel forces and afterwards occupied by the forces of the United 
States, shall be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever 
free of their servitude and not again held as slaves. 

" ' Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, That no slave es- 
caping into any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, 
from any of the States, shall be delivered up, or in any way 
impeded or hindered of his liberty, except for crime, or some 
offence against the laws, unless the person claiming said fugitive 
shall first make oath that the person to whom the labor or serv- 
ice of such fugitive is alleged to be due, is his lawful owner, 
and has not been in arms against the United States in the 
present rebellion, nor in any way given aid and comfort there- 
to ; and no person engaged in the military or naval service of 
the United States shall, under any pretense whatever, assume 
to decide on the validity of the claim of any person to the 
service or labor of any other person, or surrender up any 
such person to the claimant, on pain of being dismissed from 
the service," 

"And I do hereby enjoin upon, and order all persons en- 
gaged in the military and naval service of the United States to 
observe, obey and enforce within their respective spheres of ser- 
vice the act and sections above recited. 

•' ' And the executive will in due time recommend that all 
citizens of the United States who shall have remained loyal there- 
to throughout the rebellion, shall (upon the restoration of the 
constitutional relation between the United States and people, if 
the relation shall have been suspended or disturbed) be compen- 
sated for all losses by acts of the United States, including the loss 
of slaves. 

"In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and 
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

"Done at the city of Washington, this twenty-second day of 
September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 



20 EMANCIPATION '. 

and sixty two, and of the Independence of the United States the 
eighty-seventh. 

" By the President: Abraham Lincoln. 

"Wm, H. Seward, Secretary of State." 

PROCLAMATION OF JANUARY FIRST, 1863. 

li W7iereas; on the twenty -second day of September, in the 
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a 
proclamation was issued by the President of the United States 
containing, among other things, the following, to wit : 

" That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord 
one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as 
slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people 
whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, 
shall be then, thenceforth and forever free, and the Executive 
Government of the United States, including the military and na- 
val authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom 
of such persons, and will do n» act or acts to repress such per- 
sons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their act- 
ual freedom. 

"That the Executive will, on the first day of January afore- 
said, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States 
if any, in which the people therein respectively shall then be in 
rebellion against the United States, and the fact that any State 
or the people thereof shall on that day be in good faith 
represented in the Congress of the United States by mem- 
bers chosen thereto, at elections wherein a majority of the quali- 
fied voters of such States shall have participated, shall, in the ab- 
sence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive 
evidence that such State and the people thereof are not then in 
rebellion against the United States. 

"Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the Uni- 
ted States, by virtue of the power iD me vested as Commander- 
in-chief of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of 
actual armed rebellion against the authority and Government 
of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for 
suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in 
the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, 
and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaim- 
ed for the full period of one hundred days from the day of the 
first above-mentioned order, and designate, as the States and parts 
of States wherein the people thereof respectively are this day in 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. 21 

rebellion against the United States, the following to wit; Arkan- 
sas, Texas, Louisiana, except the parishes of St. Bernard, Palque- 
mines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, 
Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and 
Orleans, including the City of New Orleans. Mississipi, Alaba- 
ma, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and 
Virginia, except the forty-eight counties designated as West Vir- 
ginia, and also the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northamp- 
ton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk 
including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth, and which 
excepted parts are, for the present, left precisely as if this procla- 
mation were not issued. 

'•And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, 
I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said 
designated States and parts of States are, and henceforward 
shall be free; and that the Executive Government of the United 
States, including the Military and Naval authorities thereof, will 
recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons. 

"And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free, 
to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense, and 
I recommend to them, that in all cases, when allowed, they labor 
faithfully for reasonable wages. 

"And I further declare and make known that such persons of 
suitable condition will be received into the armed service of the 
United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other 
places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service. 

"And upon this, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, 
warranted by the Constitution, and upon military necessity, I in- 
voke the considerate judgement of mankind and the gracious 
favor of Almighty God. 

"In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and 
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

"Done at the City of Washington, this first 
day of January, in the year of our Lord one thou- 
sand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the In- 
[l. s.l dependence of the United States of America the 
eighty -seventh. 
"By the President: Abraham Lincoln. 

William H. Skward, Secretary of State.'''' 



22 EMANCIPATION '. 

RATIFICATION OF THE XIII AMENDMENT. 

William H. Seward, 

Secretary of State of Hie United States, 

TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS MAY COME, GREETING: 

' Know ye, that whereas the Congress of the United 
States on the 1st of February last, passed a resolution 
which is in the words following, namely: 

"A Resolution submitting to the Legislatures of the several States a 
proposition to amend the Constitution of the United States. 

'■'■Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Uni- 
ted States of America in Congress assembled, (two-thirds of both 
houses concurring,) That the following article be proposed to the 
Legislatures of the several States as an amendment to the Consti- 
tution of the United States, which, when ratified by three-fourths 
of said Legislatures, shall be valid, to all intents and purposes, as 
a part of the said Constitution, namely : 
Article XIII. 

"Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, ex- 
cept as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been 
duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place 
subject to their jurisdiction. 

"Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article 
by appropriate legislation." 

And whereas, it appears from official documents on 
file in this Department that the amendment to the Con- 
stitution of the United States proposed, as aforesaid,has 
been ratified by the Legislatures of the States of Illi- 
nois, Rhode Island, Michigan, Maryland, New York, 
West Virginia, Maine, Kansas, Massachusetts, Penn- 
sylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Missouri, Nevada, Indiana, 
Louisana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Vermont, Tennessee, 
Arkansas, Connecticut, New Hampshire, South Caroli- 
na, Alabama, North Carolina, and Georgia; in all twen- 
ty-seven States: 

And whereas the whole number of States in the 
United States is thirty-six; and whereas the before 
specially -named States, whose legislatures have ratified 



ITS COURSE AND PROGRESS. Z6 

the said proposed amendment, constitutes three-fourths 
ot the whole number of States in the United States: 

Now, therefore, be it known that I, William H. 
Seward, Secretary of State of the United States, by vir- 
tue and in pursuance of the second section of the act of 
Congress, approved the twentieth of April, eighteen 
hundred and eighteen, entitled "An act to provide for 
the publication of the laws of the United States and for 
other purposes," do hereby certify that the amendment 
aforesaid has become valid, to all intents and purposes, 
as a part of the Constitution of the United States. 

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my 
hand and caused the seal of the Department of State to 
be affixed. 

Done at the City of Washington, this eighteenth 

day of December, in the year of our Lord one 

[L. S.] thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, and 

of the Independence of the United States 

of America the ninetieth. 

William H. Seward, 

/Secretary of State. 



/ 



24 



emancipation: 



RATIFICATION OF THE XIII AMENDMENT 
BY THE STATES. 



Alabama December 2nd 1805 

Arkansas .• . . April 20 1863 

♦California December 30, 1805 

Connecticut May 5. l%5 

♦Florida December -28, 1805 

Georgia December 9, 1865 

Illinois February 1, 1805 

Indiana February 16, 1805 

*Iowa January 24, 1800 

Kansas February 7. 1805 

Louisiana February 17, 1865 

Maine February 7, 1805 

Maryland February 3, 1865 

Massachusetts Februarys, 1865 

Michigan February 2, 1865 

Minnesota February 28. 1865 

Missouri February 10, 18 g 5 

Secretary of State, Seward, issued his proclamation 
on the 18th of December, 1865, at which time, only 
twenty seven states had certified their ratification. Or- 
egon ratified on the 11th of December, but probably 
too late for the official notification to reach Washing- 
ton. The other states are marked (*) showing clearly 
that they were too late to be counted, though enough 
had aheady ratified to justify the Secretary of State in 
issuing the proclamation as required by law. 

EMANCIPATED. 



Nevada February 16, 1865 

Sew Hampshire July 1, 1865 

*New Jersey January 23, 1*66 

Xew York February 3, 1865 

North Carolina December 4, 1865 

Ohio February 10, 1 865 

♦Oregon December 11, 1865 

Pennsylvania February 8, 1865 

Rhode Island February 2, 1865 

South Carolina November 13, 1865 

Tennessee April 7, 1805 

Vermont March 9, 1865 

V i rginia February 9, 1865 

West Virginia Februaiy3, 1865 

Wisconsin March 1, 1865 

Texas February 18, 1870 



The following Table shows the number of slaves freed. 



Alabama. . . 
Arkansas: . 
Delaware . . 

Florida 

Georgia . . . 
Kansas .... 
Kentucky . . 
Louisiana . . 
Maryland . . 
Mississippi. 
Missouri . . 



435,080 

111,115 

1,798 

61,745 

462,198 

2 

225,483 

331,726 

87,189 
436,631 
114,931 



Nebraska 

*New Jersey 

North Carolina. . 331, 

8outh Carolina . . . 402, 

Tennessee 275, 

Texas 182, 

Virginia 490, 

District of Columbia 3, 
Territory of Utah. . 

Total 3,953, 



15 

18 
059 
406 
719 
566 
865 
185 

29 









♦New Jersey— These were eighteen apprentices for life, freed by 
amendment. 



St. Domingo. 
Gaudaloupe. . 
Columbia. . . . 
Cape Colony. 
Jamaica 



800,000 
85,000 

900,000 
30,000 

331,000 



Antigua 30, 

Russia 20,000, 

Israelites, including 

women and childr'n 2,500, 
Indians in Spain. . . 



760 
the XIII 

000 
000 

000 
700 



P,Agl2 



